You are the owner of your own career.
One of the senior employees of the market research company said this to me in the second week of my internship. At first, I found this claim quite poetic with a slightly dramatic touch. Then he suggested me to approach the CEO of the company regarding a topic for the research I had to do as part of the internship. I am used to call everyone older than me by their last name and starting an email to a superior with ‘highly honoured Mr. or Mrs.‘. Therefore, the idea of me as an intern asking the CEO of a company of two hundred employees for an idea regarding an (seemingly unimportant research) for my university, sounded like pure insanity.
Mind you, I did not end up asking the CEO for a research the company would be interested in, but first approached the head of my department. After she didn’t reply to my email for a week, I approach her in the hallway. A great decision as it turned out to be later. I got connected to the woman heading a different department and got the chance to participate in a really interesting research regarding stereotypes in advertisements. Since the research is in effect done because of PR reasons, nobody really had time to work on it properly. Therefore, I got to decide on most aspects of the research with two other interns from other companies.
Bottom line, had I not become the ‘owner‘ of my career, I would not have been able to participate in such an interesting research. I am quite certain that I will not work in the field that I am doing my internship in right now, but I will certainly take this lesson away from this internship (as well as many more).
Another thing I learned in the internship is what I do not like in a job. While this might seem very cliché, it is very helpful to be aware of that. Had I not done the internship I might have tried to get my first job after I graduate at a market research company (where I did my internship). My time at the company showed me however that while I liked to do research during the bachelor’s course, I do not enjoy to do it constantly. I thus realized that I need a job in which the tasks vary every day. That’s why I believe that all experiences are very valuable, if it is that you like or dislike certain tasks, that you experience the work culture in a company, nine-to-five-life or whether you like to work from home (I certainly don’t!) you learn from it all and get one step closer to a fulfilling career.
The last thing I want to share: I know that many of you curse the fact that we have to do a research project again (!). However, I came to realise (from my own experience and those of friends) that the research can help connect you with other people in your company and can offer you the chance to participate in some really cool projects. Thus, my advice: Ask for it!